The Last Time

Before: 8

After two weeks, Harry had more than had his fill of paperwork and he was more than ready to get out in the field and do something worthwhile. He, along with the rest of his training class, had been stuck on desk duty since they'd been promoted to full Aurors, assisting on paperwork of active cases to get a feel for all the forms that had to be filled out and all the rules that had to be followed, while the higher-ups reviewed all their test scores and compared them to the other Aurors to see who would be matched up with whom as partners.

But all that was at an end now, and the day he'd been waiting for had finally arrived. He and the rest of his class sat anxiously in their old lecture room, waiting to find out which Auror they'd be partnered with. Harry scanned over the older Aurors milling around the front of the lecture hall while Head Auror Robards called name after name, and he wondered which one of them he'd be assigned to work with.

It wasn't until the numbers had really begun to dwindle that Harry realised there were two fewer experienced Aurors than there were newly promoted trainees. And it wasn't until Robards called the very last two names on his list – Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy – that Harry realised why.

Even then, as he turned to Malfoy and they exchanged identical looks of horror and disbelief, it didn't feel quite real. It was almost unheard of for two inexperienced Aurors to be paired with each other. But not impossible, apparently. He expected Malfoy to object to it, to speak up right then and there and say that he refused to work with Harry. But Malfoy said nothing and, too shocked to react with anything other than mute compliance, neither did Harry.

Malfoy collected the key to their new office from Robards, and Harry followed him through the hallways and into the small room, furnished only with a pair of desks and chairs and a few empty bookshelves. He closed the door behind him.

"We can't do this," he said, finding his tongue at last. "It's against about a thousand rules for us to be fucking if we're partners."

Malfoy folded his arms over his chest and regarded Harry calmly. "Agreed," he said. "The way I see it, we've got two options. Either we go to Robards right now and get reassigned, or we break off this thing we're doing and just be partners. Which would you prefer?"

Harry shoved a hand through his hair. Neither of those sounded like a good option. "I don't know. From the times we were paired up in training, I think we could really be great as partners. But the sex is also really bloody good."

Malfoy watched him for a long moment, mouth turned down into a small frown, eyes contemplative. "Then there's a third option."

Harry blinked at him. "Oh?"

"We have everything," Malfoy said, staring hard at Harry.

"Everything?" Harry repeated, not following along.

"Yes. Partners in every sense of the word. Everything. And I do mean everything," Malfoy continued, his voice growing sharp and intense, his eyes sparking the way they did right before a training duel. He moved close to Harry. "If we're going to do this, we need to do it right. That means a proper relationship, not this not-quite-friends-with-fucking nonsense."

"Oh, you're... you're asking me out?" Harry was entirely thrown off course. This wasn't at all where he'd expected this conversation to go.

Malfoy's mouth twisted up. "Is that what you want? Shall I get down on my knees and profess my undying love? Propose marriage and offer to bear you a dozen fat babies?"

"Er, no. That won't be necessary," Harry said, flustered. He coughed once. "Just. So, we're boyfriends now?"

"We are indeed," Malfoy said with a slow smirk that Harry didn't like the look of at all. "Let's go tell Robards." He swept out into the hall and Harry had little choice but to follow.

"Erm," Harry said. "Might I ask what exactly you're going to say to him?"

Malfoy gave him another of those unsettling smirks. "Just leave all that to me, Scarhead."

That smirk abruptly reminded Harry that this was Malfoy. And bloody hell, Harry couldn't believe he'd just agreed to be boyfriends with him. Ron was absolutely going to shit himself when he found out. Oh fuck, and all the fucking papers. He was going to get Howlers for weeks. Maybe this was a bad idea. A really bad idea, and maybe it wasn't too late to tell Malfoy he'd changed his mind

But the door to the Head Auror's office was open, and Malfoy rapped lightly on the doorframe as he stepped inside before Harry had a chance to speak up, and Robards looked up from the file he was leafing through. Harry trailed in and closed the door after them.

The door had barely latched shut when Robards sighed, "I've been expecting this." He closed his folder and pushed it aside.

"Sir," Malfoy said, pulling himself up rigidly. "We'd like to discuss your decision to partner us."

Robards frowned at Malfoy, frowned at Harry, then frowned at Malfoy again. "I assure you that I didn't make the decision to partner the two of you lightly," he said. "We've analysed all your exam scores and your ratings on practical tests. I've personally gone over every instance where you were paired with each other in training exercises and I am entirely convinced that, despite your turbulent history, I wouldn't be able to find a more compatible partner for either of you."

"That's not—" Malfoy began.

"Furthermore," Robards cut him off. "I personally oversaw the analysis of your magical signatures, and I've never seen another two that are so close to each other from two individuals who aren't kin." He continued on about magical signatures and test scores and innate compatibility, and it was clear to Harry that Robards had been rehearsing this speech for a while. Malfoy kept trying to break in, but Robards wouldn't allow himself to be dissuaded, and Malfoy visibly grew more and more frustrated.

"I'm fucking him," Malfoy burst out at last when Robards paused for breath.

"Malfoy!" Harry said while Robards choked on nothing.

"Quiet, Potter," Malfoy said and looked back at Robards. "And I know it's against regulations for two partnered Aurors to be in a relationship with each other, but you're going to make an exception for us."

Robards seemed to have recovered himself somewhat. "Am I?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous.

"Malfoy," Harry warned, and received an elbow to his ribs for his trouble.

"Yes, you are," Malfoy went on. "Because if you don't, you're going to lose both of us. We're partnered with each other, or we're not Aurors at all."

Well. That was news to Harry. He shifted awkwardly as Robards and Malfoy engaged in a brief staring contest, then Robards looked at him.

"Auror Potter. Is this true?"

"Erm," said Harry, and Malfoy elbowed him again. Harry coughed once. "Yes?" He fought the urge to squirm beneath Robards' stern gaze. He held still rather than risk another jab from Malfoy's elbow. Really, was there any part of the wanker that wasn't pointy?

Robards turned his gaze on Malfoy again, and Malfoy's chin came up a fraction as they stared each other down. Robards sighed. "Very well then, as it seems I have no choice in the matter," he said wryly. "But I will be keeping a close eye on your performance, and if I notice that your personal life impedes your professional careers, I will reassign you in an instant, and if that means you choose to quit, so be it."

"Thank you, sir."

"And Auror Malfoy," Robards said. "If you ever, ever dare speak to me again the way you have just spoken to me now, your threats of quitting will be utterly useless because I will have fired you on the spot. I do not appreciate being manipulated like this and I won't tolerate it again. I've only allowed it this time because of your sheer fucking bollocks, and I believe that'll make you one of our best. But a good Auror also knows his place, and I have no room in my department for an Auror who has no respect for the chain of command. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly, sir. Thank you, sir," Malfoy said, bowing his head.

They left, Harry trailing after Malfoy.

"I can't believe you just did that," he said, still a little stunned by the whole thing. "And bloody hell, I can't believe it worked."

Malfoy smirked at him. "I've got top scores and you're the Prat Who Wouldn't Die. I think you vastly underestimate how far they'd be willing to go to keep us."